Author of 'How to Kill a Federal Judge' manifesto arrested, US prosecutors say

( Reuters )

A Minnesota man has been charged with threatening to assault and murder a federal judge after staff at a local library spotted him printing copies of a 236-page manifesto entitled “How to Kill a Federal Judge," U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Robert Phillip Ivers, who was previously convicted of threatening to kill a federal judge in 2019, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota federal court after being arrested by law enforcement last week.

The charges come at a moment of rising concern about a torrent of threats targeting members of the federal judiciary. The U.S. Marshals Service says that as of Sept. 2, it has logged 513 threats against 364 judges in the 2025 fiscal year.

Ivers, who had previously been sentenced to 18 months in prison in the earlier threat case, made his initial court appearance on Tuesday and is being detained pending a detention hearing on Friday.

Brett Kelley, who served as the 72-year-old's court-appointed lawyer in two earlier criminal cases including the one involving a judge, in a statement said he was surprised Ivers was arrested as the book at issue had been a government exhibit in both of earlier cases.

"The government rightly did not charge him in relation to the book in either case because it should not," Kelley said.

Prosecutors said that on Sept. 3, law enforcement responded to a report that Ivers had the day before been at the Wayzata Library in Wayzata, Minnesota, printing the manuscript he wrote, which had a picture of gun on it.

The complaint said Ivers showed the manifesto to library staff and before leaving gave them a three-page flyer advertising it. The flyer described it as a guide "designed to teach extremists on how to plan, train, hunt, stalk and kill anyone including judges, their family members, politicians and more!"

The flyer said Ivers had been "falsely indicted by a deceived U.S. grand jury" and on its second page stated that the "harsh reality is that judges are going to die," according to charging documents.

While investigating the incident, authorities learned that staff at an Episcopal church in Minnetonka, Minnesota had on Aug. 28 reported Ivers to law enforcement based on "abnormal behavior" after he said he would attend upcoming events where children and state lawmakers would be present.

Police arrested Ivers on the evening of Sept. 3 and seized his car. While being transported, he claimed he was having a heart attack and was taken from the jail to a hospital, from which he was released later that night.

A subsequent search of Ivers' vehicle uncovered a photo of the former pope with crosshairs centered on his head, 20 spiral-bound copies of his manifesto, a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook, fireworks and a white foam box containing a toy replica firearm, a box of Co2 cartridges and a container of pellets.

Authorities said they also found lists of federal judges and his manifesto mentioned several, including the judge who presided over his earlier federal trial and the judge he was previously convicted of threatening to kill.

The judge who presided over the federal trial was the focus of many of Ivers' latest threats, the complaint said.

The earlier case had involved threats targeting U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright, according to court papers. U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt presided over his 2019 trial in that case, according to the court docket.

Police re-arrested Ivers on Friday. Prosecutors said that when he was asked during an interview if his book would have scared anybody, Ivers shouted: "It was supposed to!"